Conservatives’ transparency a one-way street

Guelph Mercury

At long last, Conservatives have passionately embraced the concept of transparency and accountability. But in Stephen Harper’s Ottawa that transparency is a one-way mirror.

In recent days, the government has passed legislation compelling aboriginal leaders to publicly disclose their salaries and expenses to ensure, as Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan says: “(They) are held to the same standard of accountability and transparency as other levels of government.”

They are backing a British Columbia MP’s bid to force Canadian unions to disclose to the Canadian Revenue Agency virtually all their financial affairs, which the government calls the need for “union transparency.”

In a colossal waste of a parliamentary committee’s time and resources — and something that could blow up in their faces — Tories have also called Liberal leadership candidate Justin Trudeau to testify about his two-year-old comments about Alberta so he can be held accountable.

But this laudable quest for accountability seems to break down into three categories: campaigns led by their allies, campaigns against their political enemies, and a deeply held belief that transparency and accountability is what you impose on others.

When it comes to aboriginal leaders, the legislation now before the Senate was a hobby horse of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which began a campaign in 2010 by revealing as many as 50 of these leaders earned more than the prime minister.

The legislation has obvious merit, but it was B.C. New Democrat Jean Crowder who got to the root of the government’s double standard.

“On the one hand, the government is saying to First Nations chiefs and councils that they must be more accountable than almost any other government in the country,” Crowder said. “On the other hand, it will not produce basic fundamental documents to tell the Canadian public how it is spending its money.”

The “union transparency” bill — the work of B.C. Conservative Russ Hiebert — would require all unions and labour trusts to file financial statements within six months of the end of the fiscal year. That information would then be posted on the revenue agency’s website. The bill would require a full breakdown of any union transaction of more than $5,000, including the names and addresses of those receiving payouts. It would require disclosure of the salary and benefit packages of all union officials and employees, and the unions would have to break down their spending in various categories, from politics to lobbying to education.

Opponents of the bill wonder why the government is not forcing the same type of financial disclosure upon doctors, lawyers and others who, like union members, pay tax-deductible dues to professional organizations. The answer was provided by Ottawa-area Conservative Pierre Poilievre after the NDP filibustered the Hiebert bill at committee.

“The NDP’s attempt to block this union transparency bill and block workers’ rights only strengthens our party’s resolve to support that member’s bill and its amendments,” Poilievre said. “The reality is that never before has one party in Parliament been so dominated by a single-interest group.”

He told the Commons that a third of NDP MPs are “past union bureaucrats or union bosses.”

Late last week, Conservatives sitting on the natural resources committee thought it would be a swell idea to have Trudeau and Liberal MP David McGuinty (Ottawa South) appear before their committee to “explain” their anti-Alberta comments. Trudeau, quite naturally, said OK, realizing he could turn a partisan witch hunt on its head. In their search for accountability, they might want to be accountable themselves on the use of a parliamentary committee to take on a political enemy.

This all, of course, unfolds as the parliamentary budget officer, Kevin Page, is waiting for the Federal Court to rule on whether he has the right to seek basic information on government cutbacks so parliamentarians could make informed decisions on relevant information.

As the Tories cast their light of accountability about Parliament, they have ignored their own lack of accountability — on the true cost of the F-35 fighter jets, on spending on the G20 summit, on the use of a discredited marketing agency to spread lies about Liberal MP Irwin Cotler or on its recent budget numbers aimed at delivering goodies in the 2015 campaign.

But, of course, that is accountability at home, and it is much more fun to force it on others.

Tim Harper is a news services columnist who writes on national affairs.